Contents

Appearance and Personality

The seminal Hero is often depicted as a young man of athletic build, wearing the traditional armor of Erdrick (including his helm and shield) and a bright red cape billowing behind him.

The sprite used for the original 8-bit adventure is dressed appropriately for combat, donning blue Full plate armor, a helm that superficially resembles the helmet of Ortega with an added orange pony-tail, a large circular shield embedded with a red jewel in its center (possibly a ruby), and an impressively sized claymore sheathed at his side.

Setting the narrative standard for all other Dragon Quest protagonists to follow, the Hero is utterly silent, only communicating in answers of 'Yes' and 'No'. This was a conscious decision made by series creator Yuji Horii to help draw the player into the world of Alefgard on a more personal level, rather than viewing the events of the game as an observer.

Spells

Setting the standard magic knight archetype of the series' protagonists, the descendant of Erdrick is equally adept at magic as he is with weapons.

Notes

Though every picture and even the game sprite show the Hero wearing a helmet, the equip menu in the game doesn't have a slot for a helmet.
The helmet worn by the sprite resembles the horned helmet given to Ortega, the father of the hero of Dragon Quest III, at the beginning of the game, which later becomes the The Helmet of Erdrick. It's possible to speculate that the hero of Dragon Quest is simply wearing the Helmet of Erdrick the entire game, as that is the only equipment the Hero of Dragon Quest III kept for himself, and would have presumably passed down to his/her descendants. The Hero would have no need to upgrade to another helmet, since no others would offer better protection. Erdrick's Shield is also unavailable in Dragon Quest; however, the shield that the Hero wields in official illustrations clearly has the crest of Erdrick on it.